• ATP World Tour Finals

Classy Federer states intentions in London opener

Roger Federer and David Ferrer put on a good show for the London crowd © PA Photos

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Roger Federer put down a serious marker in his opening match of the ATP World Tour Finals, brushing aside world No. 7 David Ferrer at the O2 Arena on Sunday.

Federer, who is making his ninth appearance in the season-ending championships, showed class off both the backhand and forehand side to thrash Ferrer 6-1 6-4 despite a gutsy performance from the Spaniard. Having watched Andy Murray power past Robin Soderling earlier in the day, Federer turned on a performance of equal quality to suggest he is ready to fight for the fifth year-end title of his career.

"I think it was a really tough match. The scoreline is unfair on David, one and a half hours for that kind of scoreline shows how tough it was," Federer told Sky Sports 2. "He's a great player, so I'm really happy to come through a tough match."

As an opponent, Ferrer was never likely to unduly trouble the world No. 2, who had won all ten of their previous encounters. However, the Spaniard had taken a set off Federer in three of their past four encounters, and he is one of only three players to have won 60 or more matches in 2010.

Ferrer's strength remains in the clay-court realm, and he simply had no answer to the early assault from Federer, who drilled consecutive backhands past his rival. Two breaks of serve handed the Swiss a 4-0 lead and, despite a minor aberration in his third service game, Federer broke again to close out the first set 6-1.

Looking back at Federer's year, the shock quarter-final loss at Wimbledon has truly proved a turning point. Since that defeat to Tomas Berdych, the 16-time grand slam winner had won 29 of 33 matches prior to Sunday's contest, reaching five of seven finals. On this form that record only stands to grow.

Federer has not won the season-end event since 2007 in Shanghai, yet his determination was visibly different from 12 month previous, when he was far from himself as he lost in the semi-finals to Nikolay Davydenko. A break in the fifth game of the second set courtesy of a wayward Ferrer forehand put Federer on the home straight and, despite facing break points in the next game, he held for 4-2.

Ferrer is a stubborn character though, and he forced the No. 2 seed to serve out the match, even creating two more break points at 4-5. A cross-court Federer backhand and a thumping serve down the middle rescued the situation, and one more big serve clinched victory.

Federer's next match will be against Murray on Tuesday afternoon.

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